Thrill of Battle
by Solarking
Summary: From the perspective of an OC gladiator. Driven by battle and strength, a warrior finally meets his match in an unlikely gladiator. Implied OCxRebecca. Pre-Dressrosa. Rated T for some sexual undertones.
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys just a quick one-shot here for my favorite One Piece character. I may do more if people are interested. This takes place before the Dressrosa arc. I do not own One Piece.

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Corrida Coliseum, a place where the strong and indentured gathered. People fighting for the sake of entertainment, others fighting for freedom. I was here by choice, a place to prove myself and satisfy my need for battle. The crowd roaring with cheers as I beat down those who opposed me, the fear in the eyes who were on the receiving end of my fists. Battle was my addiction and the crowd was my enabler.

I had not once felt the cold grip of the water that surrounded us, the chilling sense of defeat and the humiliation of the crowd. A sense of pride came over me as I knocked people off relishing in their misery. This is what I lived for, asserting my dominance over the weak combatants.

On that day though I met her. The cheers of the crowd were changed to jeers, malicious intent filled their words. The princess of the ruined kingdom, irredeemable in the eyes of the audience. Many men would have shrunken from fear of the hateful crowd, but she stood tall against them.

She did not look like a princess, clad in golden bikini armor, disregarding the stares of some men. I did not get her plan, was it to distract her opponents? It was a ridiculous outfit, enticing but ridiculous. She had the beauty of a princess even as she easily knocked much larger men out of the ring. There was no fear in her eyes, no hesitation in her movements, barely flinching from the angry crowd. She was a fearless beauty.

As the numbers thinned our fight was inevitable, I was getting more excited. Who knew that such an intoxicating beauty would be so strong? We briefly locked eyes before fighting over opponents knocking them off in unison. It was like an elaborate dance as we took down our opponents one after another.

As our dance ended we came face to face for real. The spark of domination was in my eye, determined to dominate her in the arena and make her mine out of the arena. But her powerful eyes said otherwise, that she would dominate me and emerge victorious. She gripped her sword but a small smile adorned on her face betraying her iron will. Rebecca was her name as she proudly proclaimed it to me even offering the courtesy of asking for my name.

I felt a rush I had not experienced before, more was on the line this time around. As we charged at each other I smiled widely, this battle would be won and her heart my prize.


	2. Lunch

So it's been a year since I posted this. Initially I had no clue if I'd continue this, it was just a random thing I wrote while I was stuck at work on a Saturday and liked enough to post. I'll be making this a side project, the chapters won't be too long, just because I have my main story to write too. So to Wolfmire McThorn your wait is finally over. To Vergil Leonidas and DynomiteX246 thanks for the encouragement. I really wasn't expecting it to get much attention. A long overdue thanks to BlazeXDemon, Bone Boy, DynomiteX246 and Herr Krafty for the favorite/follow. I do not own One Piece

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I had never felt colder than right now. I could feel the crowd eyeing me as I fell into the water. The second I hit the icy waters my mind went haywire. It was unfathomable to me that I could lose like this. One second I had the upper-hand, the next I was being submerged. Where had it gone all wrong? What moment sealed my fate? Despite her victory I could hear the jeers even as I was submerged. All my strength wasn't enough, she turned it against me in an instant. It was impressive to say the least. Perhaps losing to her wasn't the worst.

I walked through the halls of the Coliseum , water dripping from my still soaked hair. The normally spiky green locks left a trail behind me as I searched the halls. She was gone before I knew it. It wasn't a surprise that she took off, who would want to stick around to hear the audience mock you. The lower I got,the closer I felt I was. The stairs became more crumbled as I reached the bowels of the building. Finally I reached the bottom, there was a large cage and she was sitting in front of it, bento box in hand.

"Hey there." That was all I said. While we had exchanged names in the arena, this was different. Perhaps our pre-battle exchange was just a formality, a sign of respect and nothing more.

She looked up from her food and looked at me. Her face was hard to read but she seemed relaxed, even in the darkest depths of the Coliseum. She was away from the jeers of the crowd and the gladiators that looked down on her, perhaps she was most comfortable here.

"Oh hey." Our exchange was meager at best but it was a start. What does one say to the girl who just kicked your ass?

Now that I wasn't fending her off I had a better look of her. The golden helmet that she had on was sitting next to her as her long braided pink hair flowed down. Her bikini armor was still a bit surprising but perhaps it made movement easier. She had taut muscles on her body and long legs. My eyes briefly landed on her rather large breasts but they did not linger for very long. I took a seat next to her still not uttering a word but she did not object. In fact she held out a smaller box of food towards me. I took it as a form of a peace offering and began to dig in.

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Rebecca POV:

He was a strange gladiator, rather he did not look like one. His green hair seemed to still be wet from when I knocked him into the water. The white shirt he had on clinging to his body tightly, showing off the large and rugged muscles underneath. His blue leather jacket was torn in multiple places and covered in poorly made patches, probably to cover bigger holes. His boots looked pretty worn out and his pants were ripped here and there as well. He looked like had just stumbled off a ship from a deserted island.

"You look like you've been through hell and back." He cocked an eyebrow at me before looking down at his clothing and sighed loudly. His eyes returned to the food I had given him, he seemed a bit embarrassed by his looks.

"That's what I feel like at least." He stuffed the vegetables in his mouth in large chunks, quite the appetite from what I saw so far.

"Are you from Dressrosa?"

"No," he said continuing to gulp down the food," I came from Sababody and docked here.

"To fight in the Coliseum?"

"Nah just travelling, but I find this place fun so I figured I'd stay a bit." I didn't think this place was very fun, but then again our reasons for being here were different after all.

"Are you a pirate?"

He laughed at my question," no my family would kill me if I was."

I was surprised by him, he didn't seem bitter at all over his loss. Not once had he cursed me out for it, he didn't even seem to be sad about it. I could occasionally see his eyes wander up and down my body, it was to be expected with an outfit like mine but he wasn't bothering me at all.

"Have you seen the statue of Kyros upstairs?" He nodded at me.

"A lot of people admire him, he's an inspiration for so many, much more than Doflamingo." He cocked an eyebrow at the venom in my voice but soon brushed it off and finished his food.

"Thanks for the food." He handed me the empty box with a smile."

"Don't worry about it, so far you are one of the nicest guys I met here," I paused for a second," your name was Artemis right?"

He smiled,"Yes, glad to hear you remember Rebecca."

"It's a rather nice name."

"Thanks, to be honest you are by far the friendliest person here, I can't get more than a few words out of a lot of the others."

"To be honest, not many people here are very nice to me." He sighed at that seeming to be annoyed at the behavior of the other gladiators. I had learned to disregard it early on, I had to.

"Well I look forward to fighting you again next time," he said as he stood up.

"I do too, but I wouldn't mind seeing you again outside the arena."

"You got it beautiful." I couldn't tell if he was just trying to get a reaction out of me or if he genuinely meant what he said. Nevertheless he was an interesting man that I'd have to speak with again.


End file.
